The present disclosure relates to an image processing device which generates a plurality of parallax images for stereoscopic display and an image processing method, and a stereoscopic image display device which performs stereoscopic display on the basis of a plurality of parallax images.
Recently, as shown in FIG. 15, a 3D camera 101 in which a first photographing section 111 and a second photographing section 112 are arranged in a horizontal direction has been put into production. By photographing using the 3D camera 101, a left parallax image 151L and a right parallax image 151R having parallax in the horizontal direction may be obtained. On the basis of the parallax images 151L and 151R in the horizontal direction, it is possible to display a stereoscopic image by a stereoscopic image display device.
In order to perform the stereoscopic display by the stereoscopic image display device, there are proposed a glasses type in which an observer uses glasses, and a glasses-free type in which the observer can stereoscopically view an object with naked eyes without wearing glasses. As a representative example of the glasses type, there is a shutter glasses type in which shutter glasses having a left eye shutter and a right eye shutter are used. In the shutter glasses type, a left eye parallax image and a right eye parallax image are alternately displayed on a 2D display panel at high speed in a frame sequential manner. Further, as the left eye shutter and the right eye shutter are alternately switched according to a display timing of each parallax image, only the left parallax image is incident to the left eye of the observer, and only the right parallax image is incident to the right eye of the observer, to thereby obtain stereopsis.
On the other hand, as representative examples of the glasses-free type, there are a parallax barrier type and a lenticular lens type. In the case of the parallax barrier type or the lenticular type, parallax images for stereopsis (right eye parallax image and left eye parallax image in the case of 2 viewpoints) are space-divided and displayed on a 2D display panel, the parallax images are parallax-divided in a horizontal direction by a parallax dividing section, and thus, the stereopsis is performed. In the case of the parallax barrier type, a parallax barrier which is formed with a slit opening which is the parallax dividing section is used. In the case of the lenticular type, a lenticular lens in which a plurality of cylindrical split lenses is arranged in parallel is used as the parallax dividing section.
FIG. 17 illustrates an example of a general configuration of the stereoscopic image display device according to the parallax barrier type. The stereoscopic image display device has a configuration in which a parallax barrier 201 faces a front surface of a 2D display panel 202. According to the general structure of the parallax barrier 201, a shielding section 211 which shields a display image light from the 2D display panel 202 and a striped opening section (slit section) 212 which transmits the display image light, are alternately disposed in a horizontal direction. A synthesized image in which a right eye parallax image R and a left eye parallax image L are alternately arranged in the horizontal direction is displayed on the 2D display panel 202. In the case of the parallax barrier type, the synthesized image displayed on the 2D display panel 202 is observed through the parallax barrier 201. Thus, in a case where the observer views the stereoscopic image display device from a predetermined location and a predetermined direction, it is possible to separately input a different parallax image light to the left eye 5L and the right eye 5R of the observer through the slit section 212. In this way, in the case where the observer views the stereoscopic image display device from the predetermined location and direction, a stereoscopic image is perceived. In order to realize the stereopsis, it is necessary to show different parallax images to the left eye 5L and the right eye 5R. Thus, at least two parallax images of the right eye image and the left eye image are necessary. In a case where three or more parallax images are used, multiple visions can be realized.